The Uprising

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Safehouse, Brooklyn, New York

"Seeking asylum, that's what!" she retorted, clutching her arm; Akiko shuddered at the sight of the red tendrils retreating back into the man's skin. She had a neighbor like this?! She was about to further the argument between them when a jolt of excruciating pain ripped through her body, followed by a frightening moment of total deafness and blindness.

It was over as quickly as it came and a voice, Mirage, started to speak, dictating a plan to hopefully rescue all the Empowered. The walls slid apart, a section falling into the next building and creating a large hole through. Julius went through first, then Mirage with a rather pleasant warning to not destroy anything.

"Whatever you say, boss lady," Akiko muttered under breath. She was about to make a run for the new tunnel, when another, heavily tattooed man pushed his way past her.

"Killers first," he said before jumping after Julius and Mirage.

Akiko clicked her tongue, running after the tattooed man and taking one leap into the hole. While still in the air, she could see how the building looked inside, teleporting a little ways ahead of the tattooed man and giving him the finger before touching ground.

"I'm out of here!" she announced loudly. Just as she was about to teleport to another safe place in mind, an earsplitting screech filled her ears. She covered them with her hands to block out the sound with little effect; her ears felt like they were going to bleed.

"They've turned on the nullifiers, get moving and don't stop!" said Julius.

Power nullifiers! Akiko didn't want to believe the police could carry such technology, but the more and more she tried to move herself as far away as possible in an instant, the more it became clear this was really happening, her powers being rendered useless.

With no choice left, Akiko ran, following Julius, Mirage and everyone else.
 
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Atticus - Safehouse - Raid

"Oh, and how's that working out for you?" Atticus responded with a typical amount of sarcastic flare. It was somewhat disturbing to learn that his previous neighbor was an unnatural as well, that he had never once suspected, but he could ponder those coincidences later. Other unnaturals were showing up left and right as the entire world seemed to come down on them but the one leading the group seemed confident in her escape path. The secret door was opened and he was one of the last through, using a few tendrils of blood to effortlessly swing across to the next building. He came down on his feet, ready to strike against any of the police who had yet to be dispatched, when the high pitched humming began buzzing through his core. It rang in his head like a migraine, a red hot needle stuck right behind his eyes, and all at once the tendrils splattered against the ground. Pain erupted in his hand as his powers were dampened and Atticus hissed as he gripped the fist to his stomach, small drops of blood leaking through his fingers. 'So, they finally finished their new prototypes?' It seemed the plans he'd stolen from his father weren't the only ones available, not that the realization was surprising. He drew out the handgun once again, it was even more awkward in his left hand, but there wasn't anyone else to shoot at in the immediate vicinity.

He didn't pay the other unnaturals any attention as he moved quickly to catch up to Julius and the other woman in the lead.
 
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Trigger Warning - this post contains brutal use of knives.

Julius - Near the Tunnel

The others were almost all in the tunnel. That or close enough to that, bar the Almighty's hostile materialisation, they would be within its safety shortly. That left just Julius and Nilin with Faust in the corridor with the nullifiers beginning to take their toll on the trio. Julius could feel the base of his spin twinging in pain, becoming sharper and more focused as feeling in the lower half of his body lessened until it almost felt like someone else's. Some part of his brain noted this, putting it down to the last residual vestiges of his self-healing power having kept his injury in a safe state and that was being eroded by the nullifiers; he could only hope that when they were out of the range of the damn machines that the pain would lessen.

Julius' eyes narrowed as he watched Faust, the mercenary swaggering about as if the current situation were all within his control. That was the man's final flaw, making his very existence now too much of a risk for Julius' own person and those of his compatriots.

"Faust." Julius said as he walked up to the man. There was no suspicion in the man's eyes as Julius grabbed his shoulders and rammed his knee up between his legs. With barely a pause he twisted Faust's firearm out of his grasp, slipping the safety off and tossing it towards the tunnel in one motion. His left elbow slammed into Faust's neck with crushing force, the mercenary bent down so that the shorter Julius could easily strike at him there. Now stumbling backwards, Faust was struggling for breath as Julius closed in again, twisting the man's wrist until there was the sound of something breaking and the knife fell free from Faust's limp hand. Julius caught it with his other hand, flipping it around to a proper grip.

"You dug your own grave, I'm just setting the headstone." He completely shut out the mercenary's screams and sobs of pain, kicking one of his knees sideways, another crunch, and the man crumpled. Julius grabbed the man's hair, yanking the head it belonged to back to a convenient angle and stabbed forward with the borrowed knife. The blade sunk in all the way, cutting the cartilage and bone around the eye socket as its momentum carried it further in. The screams stopped suddenly, a now glazed eye staring up at Julius in disbelief and fear.

The young man let go of the corpse's head, the body crumpling to the side in a bloody heap without its support, and turned to Mira with a cold, hard look across his face.

"Let's go before they catch up to us." He limped towards the tunnel, all his old injuries suddenly making themselves felt as continued exposure to the nullifiers took their toll. His brain was beginning to feel like it was about to split, restricting him to thinking only of their goal of escape. Blackness was creeping into the edges of his vision but going no further; they were apparently far away now that it would not cause him to lose consciousness. It felt like being drunk, without the bonus of happy delirium; more like the incapability of the drunk with the joys of a hangover.

"How much further is it? I might need some support to get all the way..." He said to Mira, the only remaining one to hear him.
 
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Nilin - Tunnels

Things seemed to be going relatively well for the first few moments. It seemed like they would all make it out in one piece - mostly. Almost all of them had made it into the tunnel by then, having managed to follow orders. Nilin was actually quite surprised that none of the unnaturals had deviated from the plan - for once. Perhaps all hope wasn't lost for them after all.

And then the mercenary, Faust came along.

Within the chaos that had unfolded, she hadn't had time to wonder where the mercenary had disappeared to - not that she could scrounge up enough feeling to care, either way. However, the brunette couldn't pay much attention to the events that occurred next and not of her own accord. The activation of the power nullifiers hit her with the force of a freight train, all of it seemingly concentrated into her skull as it cut off her abilities she'd been using. She swayed in place, momentarily stunned by the crippling pain that seemed to originate in her skull and spread through her veins like fire. Dark spots danced in front of her eyes, impeding her vision as the world seemed to slow down in a most nauseating way. Nilin tried to move away, into the safety of the tunnel but wasn't sure if her body had actually obeyed her. She didn't know whether the pain had only lasted for a moment or continued for minutes on end but it gradually lessened to a bearable level. The metallic tang of blood coated the inside of her mouth, causing her to raise a hand to her lips. The smear of blood on her fingertips confirmed that she had bitten down on her lip hard enough to bleed when the nullifiers hit her.

Now that the pain was tolerable, she glanced at Julius just in time to witness the brutal end of his fight with Faust. The girl felt an icy shiver crawl up her spine as Julius stabbed the other man through the eye with a knife. It felt unreal, far too violent than she'd imagined he was capable of but here she was, proven wrong. She didn't comment on it or even flinch as she met the aerokinetic's strangely cold eyes with her own.

"Not much further." She commented quietly as she locked the tunnel's entrance behind them. Hesitantly, she stepped closer to Julius and looped her arm around his waist for support. Nilin wasn't fond of physical contact at all but desperate times called for desperate measures. Truth be told, she could have done with a bit of support herself. She made her way through the tunnels as soon as was humanly possible for her at the current moment, sighing in relief when the stabbing pain in her head lessened to a dull throb as they got further away from the nullifiers.

The tunnels had widened into an underground labyrinth, complete with its hidden caches and tucked away hideouts. Navigating the place would be next to impossible if they didn't know exactly what to look for - which she did to an extent. Nilin wasn't sure she could get them out in her current condition though, the headache was making it difficult for her to concentrate despite the unaffected mask she'd put on. Once she'd come across a cache of emergency medical supplies, she relaxed ever so slightly.

"Tend to the wounded. We'll be taking a few moments to regroup before we move on."

The worst of it was over for the moment.
 
Dirk - Safe House - Raid

The landing was rough, causing Dirk to scrape a part of his leg against the floor. Probably nothing serious-- it likely wouldn't even draw blood-- but the sharp pain that resulted was just enough to send Dirk into a nauseous state. He tried to right himself, to gather his bearings while the others around him did the same. In their panic and unpreparedness, they were like little more than bleating sheep waiting for their slaughter. Dirk felt like throwing up, like tossing himself out a window or some nonsense. This was terribly unlike anything he could have possibly imagined--

Pain. More pain. Coming from a source Dirk couldn't identify. The following loss of vision and hearing made him feel like he was about to succumb to a seizure of some sort, but thankfully it was only a momentary ailment. Strangely, the further pain brought Dirk into a focus, his gaze moving toward the girl touching at a control panel. Clearly, she was in control of the situation, and Dirk knew he'd better stick to her like glue if he wanted to live. He listened to her go over the plan, his mind repeating everything she said so that it stuck. For once in his life, Dirk's body felt livid, like it couldn't wait to get going. He practically bounced in place while the girl finished opening the door. 3, 2, 1-- Dirk was soaring. He felt excited. It almost scared him, but he barely had to to register much of anything beyond run.

Doing as instructed, Dirk didn't pay a single glance to anything beyond the designated goal. A screeching echoed inside his head, making him feel sluggish-- making him feel usual-- but it didn't stop him. A sense of unease crept over him as they left their leaders behind, so he was relieved when they finally caught up with them. They looked awful-- especially Julius-- and Dirk almost offered to inform them about his perceived power right there. Of course, and Dirk acknowledged the cowardice in this, an injured Julius would be less of a drain on the group if he himself were injured. It really wasn't the time, but Dirk found himself feeling crappy about himself once again. He slumped against the wall in defeat to wait for the others to make use of the medical supplies. Dirk hadn't the slightest clue about any of that, so there was no sense in him butting in.
 
Emma - The Tunnels

As Emma kept running after the two empowered, she felt hands close around her and she was suddenly lifted off of her feet. As a small yelp of surprise escaped her lips and she looked up to see a young unnatural, his parted lips revealing sharp fangs. He moved with amazing agility and energy. As soldiers kept appearing out of no where, she attempted to form a dagger of ice. Just as she began forming it, a piercing, high-pitched screech pounded her ears. Her ice instantly fell to the ground, shattering. Nullifiers...

The boy set her down and she stumbled a bit, but kept on running. When the two leaders fell back, she glanced towards them long enough to see the man go at an enemy with a knife. She turned and kept on running, her eyes watching the people in front of her.

When they reached a hidden stash of some sort, the two leader figures re-appeared. She timidly approached the woman. "Um, I just wanted to apologize for accidentally shooting ice at the two of you..." She fumbled with her words. "Thank you for letting me come with you all... I thought for sure I was going to end up back in a government prison."
 
Sean along with several others made it safely into the tunnels. Clearly they had planned for something like this happening at somepoint, this alleviated what frustrations he had about the "safe house" Sean was bent over breathing heavily, his lungs burning as air rushed in and was just as quickly expelled. He turned head just in time to see a Knife go through Faust's eye. Sean's eyes bugged a little and his breathing slowed, In all honesty he kind of expected this, the guy was clearly crazy and he must've had ulterior motives. Sean gained some newfound respect for Julius just then, without really thinking Sean took the watch off his wrist he'd stolen from him a few days ago and walked over to Julius.

He respected a guy who took care of business promptly, especially if that business was dangerous. Sean stood at arms length from him and held his hand out, clutching the watch in his fist, it was the most symbolic way he could thank him without saying it out loud.
Sean then said the same thing he did when he first ran into him "Thanks for the time." Offering the timepiece back to him.
 
Haylee - The Tunnels

Haylee slowed down to a halt when she noticed that the two supposed leaders stayed behind, choosing to walk in a slow paced rhythm. Her hand found her forehead as she massaged her temples to try and lessen the headache, though it proved an useless attempt, since it seemed to worsen it than actually make it better. The pain from the nullifiers was already gone, leaving only the ache from having passed out. Slowly, the extra background voices were coming back, relief washing over Haylee as her mind wasn't once again empty. She spotted a small spider on the wall to her right and ordered it to walk in a spiral form, grinning as the little creature obeyed. Hell yeah, her powers were back. The sound of steps brought her out of her awe, turning around to see those who were missing, the leaders included, approaching.

"Damn, you two look like shit." She said as her eyes spotted Julius and Nilin supporting each other, even though she probably didn't look any better. She was 100% sure that her face was stuck in a painful grimace as the headache only worsened, probably ready to turn into a full on migraine, with vomit and all. The red head let them lead the way, since her knowledge of the place was absolutely zero, and the last thing she wanted was to get lost in that damned place. Fortunately, they didn't spend much time walking, instead making a stop to tend to the wounds and all of that. The young woman searched for aspirin in the cache of medical supplies, swallowing them dry. She could care less. She sat on the ground (more like plopped down on it rather ungraciously) and let her head rest on the wall behind her, closing her eyes to try and cancel any source of light. Haylee wondered what the hell had she gotten herself into, and then she remembered the exact words from that Diego guy, "The safe-house is somewhere you don't want to go. Trust me. I think the safe-house has already been raided by now. It isn't really that hidden, if you know what I mean."

With eyes still closed, she scowled at her thoughts. "I should have listened to him." She hissed through clenched teeth, though the words came out all slurred. However, what was done, was done. There is no way to change the past, and no way to predict the future. There's only the present, the now. And that is the most important thing to Haylee.

With surprisingly effort, the whisperer turned her head towards the leader woman but found the new position too uncomfortable, so she rested her head on the wall once again, a frown forming on her forehead. "So, what do we do now?" She asked without looking at the woman, her voice suspiciously calm and serene, missing the clipped tones it usually carried and the harsh left over of sarcasm. "I'll let you know that I'm perfectly happy just sitting here with my head against the wall and closed eyes. Just, you know, enjoying life, the good sweet life." The girl suddenly chuckled, though it ended soon because of the pain. "This remembers me of when I drank my first bottle of scotch, it was supposed to be just one glass but that day had been especially shitty, so, you know, bad decision and all. I woke up the next day with zero recollection of what happened and a headache almost as bad as this one." She pointed towards her head in a lazy manner, as another chuckle escaped her throat. "The only difference is that this time I'm not alone and not covered in blood." She made a pause, before groaning as a wave of nausea and pain, so much pain, hit her.

"Fuck, when this is over I'm going to drink two bottles of scotch, vodka, whatever. None of you are invited, it'll be a private moment thank you very much."
 
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The Tunnels, Brooklyn, New York

Akiko arrived at the tunnels, severely out of breath from the long run and her sides on fire. Comparing herself to the others, Akiko may have been the most out of breath than everyone here! Mirage and Julius appeared behind and Akiko noticed some blood covering his hand. She recalled earlier a scream when the two along with Faust who decided to suddenly appear chose to stay behind to give the rest of them time to go. She didn't see Faust with them and wondered if that was his scream.

"Tend to the wounded. We'll be taking a few moments to regroup before we move on." Mirage said as she nodded to some medical supplies tucked away. Akiko gave herself a once-over; only minor wounds, the worst being a rug burn from her little encounter with her neighbor, Bloody Tentacle Man, as she was now calling him until she can remember his name. Her wounds weren't too concerning, nothing a Band-Aid couldn't fix.

She could still hear the screech of the nullifiers, now only a dully ring in her ears and being nothing more than an annoying headache. She recalled those moments when the nullifiers turned on, when her powers wouldn't work for her anymore and all she could do was run. She was so used to just literally popping in and out of any location she desired. Maybe that was why she had less stamina than everyone else. Because it was so much easier, safer and faster to just teleport than to run. She had forgotten what it was like to be a human being.

Akiko looked around at the others who had gathered here. She wondered if she could use her powers now. Even if she could, where could she go? How can she be sure any place was be safe? And it was past curfew; after everything tonight, patrols were even higher than normal. Akiko decided staying here, with the other Unnaturals, was the safest place.

As she taped one bandage over her rug burn, it occurred to her she was once again on the run, without a home as she escaped for survival. She had been doing this for so long now, five years and nothing had changed. With that thought, Akiko slid down the wall and onto her haunches, burying her face in her knees as she waited for their next move.
 
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Nikolai-The Tunnels

He saw Julius and the pain inducing woman, more or less heard them. He doubled back when he saw them open some kind of hidden room. This woman had set things up like she knew all this was going to go down. Still not time to bitch at her for being a prepper. He went to the group and stood over them as the licked their wounds. He looked to the pain woman then to Julius.

"Where go now?" Nikolai said," Is there second safe house? What about Mari?"
 
Atticus - Tunnels

Atticus jogged up to the resting point with only a slight edge to his breathing, a benefit of controlling his blood was that he had developed far more red cells than the average person. He hardly ever got winded and when his powers weren't dampened his endurance could last for ages. His dark eyes regarding the others with a rather dismissive look as he went straight for the medical supplies, pulling out a roll of bandages which he tore with his teeth. Though his powers were slowly returning he still wrapped the wound tightly to stop any further blood loss, hissing lightly at the spike of pain it caused.

GreatWest said:
Haylee - The Tunnels
"Fuck, when this is over I'm going to drink two bottles of scotch, vodka, whatever. None of you are invited, it'll be a private moment thank you very much."
Click to expand...
"Just you and the cats then?" Atticus mocked, giving a sidelong glance down at the girl. "That's a party I'd rather skip, thanks." These people, these unnaturals, how could they not understand that this was the world they lived in and that it would never change.

At least not while his father was still breathing.

"And where to now, oh fearless leaders." His gaze flicked to Julius and the girl, regarding them both with a certain curiosity. They had connections, obviously, but it had yet to be seen if they were more worthwhile than a few crude escape tunnels. "Hopefully not another 'safe' house... I've had enough police door kickers for one weekend."
 
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Julius - Tunnels

"Don't worry about it, no one was hurt. Just... try and stay calm if you're ever in that kind of situation again. It might save your life." Julius said, waving off the ice-powered girl. His head pounded from the after-effects of the nullifier and his entire body ached as old injuries returned to haunt his battered body; he didn't much feel like talking to and organising their group but he knew he must. Mira knew the way but they would look to him, he knew, to follow her lead; to them she would still seem like an outsider even though their survival was thanks to her.

Before he had a chance to sit down the man, Julius recalled his name as being Sean, approached and held out Julius' watch in an ever-so-slightly awkward gesture of appreciation. Despite himself, and the situation, the young man smiled and undid the swapped watch, handing it over as he took his original back.

"It wasn't quite keeping time so I did some work on it." He said, pointing out the now-moving hands on the clock face. "Hopefully we'll all have plenty of it."

Finally, Julius found a reasonably comfortable place to take a short break and sat down carefully; his right leg groaning as his aching injuries screamed louder in pain. At least the aches were receding now that they were free of the nullifier's effects but experience told him it would be several days before he felt back to normal. Now that he had a chance to examine the others in the group it seemed like they had suffered far less from the nullifier's effects than himself, with the exception of Mira. While he did not have completely quantitative data he suspected that Mira's power was considerably stronger and more developed that they had so far seen, based on the method by which the nullifiers worked.

Nikolai interrupted his thoughts, engaging Julius once again in conversation. With regret the young man remembered watching through his 'sight' as Maribeth was bundled out of the building to some secure facility, he would assume.

"Maribeth has been taken. She took the rear guard and fell victim to their tranquillizers. Don't worry though, I'll get her back." Before he could move on to the topic of the next place, one of the pair that Maribeth had brought back to the safe house earlier in the day spoke up; his sarcastic tones might have grated on Julius' nerves if he were not so exhausted. "Oh, it'll be another 'safe house'." He stared at the young man, of his age or possibly even slightly older, with a flat gaze.

"This time, now that you're all properly acquainted with how the government police work they won't find us due to overly showy use of your powers. Still, I expected it and this raid will work in our favour." Julius' gaze moved slowly over to Mira and a small, sly smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Now we know who our friends really are."

And who our enemies are, also.
 
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Maribeth and Markus Finch - Interrogation

Mari awoke in the darkened room to a blinding light above her. She was strapped to some kind of Machine in an all white room. A man sat nearby holding a clipboard in his hands.

"Ah prisoner 1203 you're awake!" He said with mock delight. "You probably have a great many questions for me... no?" He said quizzically. "You're probably wondering who I am, or where you are, or perhaps why you are here?"

"All irrelevant at the moment but all shall be reviled I promise." He held a strange remote in his hand that his thumb now hovered over. "Let's start with a simple question.. what is your name?"

There were no dreams in the unconscious state that Maribeth found herself in. Just black and nothing more.

The sound of buzzing began ringing in her ears as she began to be able to feel her limbs, slowly twitching a thumb or a leg muscle. Finally, she found her eyes and opened them, only to shut them immediately after, being blinded by a bright light right above her.

She was groggy and confused. In a dazed state that she never wanted to be in again. The young girl attempted to roll over but was abruptly stopped, her hands and feet strapped to whatever surface she was on. She began to panic and opened her eyes once more, blinking furiously until her eyesight adjusted and she was able to see around her. White. Nothing but white. 'No', the young woman thought, her heart jumping into overdrive as she remembered the horrid house she had once been in. Her eyes began to fill with tears as she strained against the straps on her limbs.

The sound of a man, whose voice was a bit too upbeat for the situation at hand, filled the room almost right after she had awakened. Mari glared at him with tear filled eyes full of hatred. As he spoke, her mind became clearer and she wasted no time in trying to pick him up and throw him across the room.

Nothing.

Without making a sign, she once again tried to rip his pen from his hand and send it flying at his throat. Nothing.

It was an odd feeling. Anger and panic and fear. She had felt it before but never this intense. When the man asked for her name, Mari nearly growled as let out a string of curse words at him, refusing to comply.

The man paused for a second, then his thumb fell. Pure agony coursed through Maris body for 5 seconds.

Click

The pain stopped. "I'm sorry I didn't catch that what was your name?" The man asked again in a more collected tone.

Mari watched the man closely. Her eyes darted down at his hand as his thumb pressed a button and within seconds she was writhing in pain, a low hiss escaping her clenched teeth. Not even in pain would she allow the man the satisfaction of hearing her scream. Once the pain had stopped, the young woman slumped back onto the table, her breath labored as she panted. Tears escaped her eyes but still she refused to answer his question.

The man let a smile crease his withered face. "What are you hoping to accomplish?" He asked tenderly.

Click
.....
Click

"You're off to a very poor start. After all I'm only trying to help you." He said leaning over her. "I will ask a third time. What is your name?"

As the man smiled, Maribeth's anger flared, and once again, she uselessly pulled against her restraints.

When the man clicked the button once more, he managed to get a yelp out of her before she bit her tongue and suffered in silence.

Panting, she finally responded to him, but not giving him the answer he was looking for. "If..... If you were helping.... You. Wouldn't. Be. Doing. This." Her voice was slightly harsh and lower due to the strain, but she managed to keep it from cracking even though she seemed to be on the brink of sobbing.

The man frowned at her response. For half a second it looked as if he was actually considering what she had said. "Very well, what if I told you my name? Would you then tell me your own?" He asked straightening his spectacles.

Maribeth nearly relaxed when she saw that the man hadn't pressed the god forsaken button. She looked up at him and studied him as he looked to have been considering what she had said. When he spoke once more, it surprised her that he had taken a different tone and approach. Maybe she could trick him. Maybe there was a way to get out of this alive.

Maribeth nodded at the man, agreeing with him.

A warm smiled crossed the man's face as the young girl nodded. "My name is Markus Finch. Perhaps you've heard of me." He said, his smile widening.

'Markus Finch'. She kept repeating it in her head, knowing that somewhere in her life she had heard that name before. 'Dad!'
Maribeth frowned as she remembered. The man had worked hand in hand with her father, and with a man of the last name of Tyren, if she was correct. They were the three that had begun this process from what she knew. She refused to have learned anymore. "My name is Mari." She refused to say both her last name and full first name, knowing once the man figured out that she was the daughter of the most wanted man at the moment, he'd have the upper hand.

Finch nodded and stood. His Grey suit was perfectly pressed and his hair combed perfectly. The smile left his face now.
"Do you not remember me? You would have been very young at the time of course so I suppose it's to be forgiven." Finch said as if talking to a child.

Maribeth nearly groaned as the man recognized her even with her nickname that had only recently been given to her. "What do you want?"

Finch frowned slightly. "I want to help you Mari. And even if you don't understand it now you want my help too." He said the frown deepening.

"I don't want anyone's help." Mari spat at Finch, venom in her words. "What do you think happens to you if we fail to come to an agreement?" He asked, his face completely masked this point.

Maribeth glared ad Markus and, after a long moment of silence, sighed. "What do you want." She asked again, in a more calm voice, her tone still filled with anger. She asked her question once more, hoping the man would quit his small talk and just spit it out. Finch paused again before answering. "I want you to see the error of your ways. And I'm going to help you with that." "The error?" This stunned Mari, making the anger disappear momentarily.

Finch looked at Mari his face deadly serious. "Yes, you have been helping a criminal organization that kills people on a regular basis. A band of murderous thieves, did you not realize?"

"Organization?" Maribeth tried to think clearly but at the moment, her was filled with a million things yet blank at the same time. What baffled her the most was the lack of her telekinesis. Once again she tried to push the man across the room but failed. "The only ones that are killing people on a regular basis are scum like you." Finch nodded. "I can understand why you might think that, being in contact with psychotics tends to drive you mad. Do you realize that only a few short hours ago over 50 members of the night police were killed in more gruesome ways then I would let be reported to me.... do you know how many unnaturals died?"

"I'm not mad!" The young woman's brow furrowed in confusion as Finch went on explaining the death numbers within the night order. "Well that could have easily been avoided, if your people would stop the ridiculous hunt for those with abilities." "Have you ever even entertained the idea that perhaps there is a reason that we try to capture unnaturals? Or do you think that all humans are just mindless evil people who only want to destroy you?"

"Sure I have. Your stupid white walls reminded me of that too. You capture my kind so that you can conduct inhumane studies on us. Torture is what it is. Must I show you the scars that haunt me every time I look in the mirror?" That she was angry again was obvious. The loathing, and somewhat envy, that she had tried to put aside in her time away had slowly began to make its way back into her mind. "At one point yes we did, we understood little about you and were terrified of what it could mean. Your father knew that very well."

"We don't want to hurt you anymore Mari, we want to help you."

"Don't speak about my father!" Maribeth glared at Finch as he once again offered her the so called help. "If you want to help then spit it out. But if you're expecting me to rat out people, then you've hit a dead end." Finch obviously frustrated now made direct eye contact with the girl for the first time. "If you can't control yourself you leave me no choice but to use this again." He said showing the remote. "Is that what you want?"

"If you haven't noticed I am perfectly controlled. If I wasn't, you'd already be dead." Maribeth couldn't help but smirk. If it were any other situation, she'd have laughed; but instead she kept from sounding too cocky. She needed to leave this place alive.

Finch frowned... "Have you ever killed anyone before he asked?" Ignoring the comment. "Yes." "How did you feel?" "They deserved it."

Expecting the response Finch asked "Who were they? And what did they do to deserve it?" Mari frowned slightly as she recalled the incidents. It was all a blur to her and she had made it that way on purpose. "They were men trying to kill us. Men who did kill some. We were innocent! We were being kept like lab rats! There were kids younger than me that had a future. They deserved to die."

"Have you ever killed since then?"

"I....." Maribeth stopped and tried to think back. Nothing came up. "I don't remember." Finch nodded. "It's okay Mari you don't have to remember anything right now if you don't want to. But let me ask you this, has a 'friend' or companion of yours killed anyone while you watched?" "Yes." "How did that make you feel?" "I hardly see how this is going to help me."

"Don't worry, it well help you more then this will." Finch reminded her of the remote again. Maribeth had to resist the strong urge to groan in protest as the man gestured to the remote. "I put it behind me. I haven't hurt a soul since I left the U. S. I haven't killed...... But I'd gladly do it again if it meant getting out of here." "Why?" Finch asked genuinely curious. "Because I hardly doubt it that you'd simply let me walk out of that door."

"Actually there is no possible way you could die here." Finch said calmly. "You're in a building with the best doctors in the world and we don't in fact want to kill you."

"Then why am I here?!" It felt as if they were going in circles with the questions, and it drove Mari crazy that she couldn't just get a straight answer. "I've had enough of you beating around the bush. What do you want? Where am I? Why can't I use my powers?!" The last question she asked she nearly screamed at the man in pure frustration. "If you want information on my dad, you're out of luck because I don't know where he is." Mari lied smoothly as she spoke about her father. She had become an expert at lying ever since they had broken out of the house of powers.

Finch cocked his head to the side and looked her in the eyes being careful to notice every detail about them on eye asked the question before he asked. "You're sure you don't know where your father is?" "I don't." Maribeth looked right back at the man, not breaking eye contact. She knew what he was trying to do and she wouldn't allow it. He'd have to be better than that if he wanted to catch her lying. Finch smiled not entirely convinced. "That's fine Mari, I'm not after your father. Why would I be we're friends after all?"


"Sure you are." Maribeth couldn't help to control her sarcasm even in the worst situations. "Now answer my damn questions."

Finch nodded ignoring the remark. "As you wish. You are currently in the detainment and questioning department of the NSB headquarters. You cannot use your powers because I don't want to die. And you are here because we are helping you. I understand that you don't understand and that's perfectly alright." "I don't want or need any help." She was stubborn and hard headed, but if that's what it took to get the people around her to slip up, then so be it.

"That's exactly my point. These people have you brainwashed into thinking your life would be better with them!" "Brainwashed?" Once again Mari was stumped. All of her rage subdued by the choosing of the man's words. "Yes... it may be worse then I originally feared. They make you think that we want to destroy you. This a complete lie or horribly misguided notion. Did people die? Did children die? Yes they did... do you truly think we wanted anyone to die..." he trailed off for a moment seeming to think about something else. "You're lying. The only brainwashing is what you're trying to do to me at the moment." Maribeth refused to listen any further. How could this man tell her these things, when she had one of the originals that had been out in the dreaded house. She knew what had been, and was, going on. The young woman gave Finch a hard, cold glare before turning her head away from him and closing her eyes. "I'm done speaking to you."

Finch snapped back to reality from the last phrase. "Wait Mari... I'm begging you. Please keep talking... I don't want to have to hurt you..." Maribeth made no further comment nor movement. Surely the man had gotten plenty of information to go off of. What else did he need? "Are you sure this is what you want?" He asked a genuine hint of sadness in his voice. "What I want is for you and your men to go to hell."
With that Finch stood. "Then I'm sorry... I had hoped we could be friends in this matter... you could have been the gateway to ending this war... but instead you chose to make me hurt you." He began walking towards the door.

Maribeth looked over to where the man had begun to walk and bit her lip not to say anything else. The lives of her friends were at risk. Not only that, but Julius and Diego would never forgive her for working with these people. Especially Diego.

The door opened and hung for a moment before closing softy. Nothing happened. Then the pained returned and last far longer then ever before. Five minutes of uninterrupted agony went by.

As Finch left the room, Maribeth sighed of relief and relaxed slightly. It was still unnerving to be in the room, but at least now she was alone.
Not even a minute had passed before the surge of pain took over her body and had her screaming and shrieking in pain. This time it didn't end within seconds. The pain lasted for what seemed to be hours, but was only five minutes. The screaming continued as she thrashed around on the surface she was on, tears rushing down her face once again.
 
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Sean graciously traded watches with Julius. And nodded his head a few times in silent respect, he sat down wanting to just catch his breath more than anything, hardly a thought went through his head but the one that kept coming forward was 'what next?' clearly another safe house but where? And how long until that one was raided? He just flushed all the thoughts out of his head. He would be able to vent later, he considered for a second putting his gun back in the backpack but having it out gave hime peace of mind.

Sean realized he was sitting about a foot away from Akiko, he spoke with her briefly at the old place did the hang out the night before? He honestly couldn't remember. "If someone would've told me I'd be esacping buildings constantly when I was a kid, I would've bought a video camera, y'know?" Sean said with an exasperated chuckle, there was always way to make light of a situation he said it more to Akiko due to her proximity bit it was meant for the group.
 
The Tunnels, Brooklyn, New York

Akiko had to agree with Bloody Tentacle Man. She had enough of ambushes for a long time. She'll still follow along with the others to wherever the two leaders have in mind, even if it's another 'safehouse.'

"If someone would've told me I'd be escaping buildings constantly when I was a kid, I would've bought a video camera, y'know?"

Akiko looked up to see it was Sean who spoke, it seemed to be more at her since he was looking at her. Her lips upturned a little at the comment.

"Upload your videos somewhere and you can get a lot of hits too," she added, trying to keep up with the humor. Akiko sighed, resting her cheek against the palm of her hand. "This sucks. I hoped the safehouse thing was gonna be temporary before I go back home." During her first night's stay, Akiko had planned on going back once it was clear and get anything she could before finding a new place since she had a close call there. And now, that plan has been foiled. "How'd they find us? I didn't see anything that would say the Police were onto us when we were walking around." Akiko didn't even knew how they found Unnaturals the first night either. She did her best to remain inconspicuous to the public eye. She didn't know how Bloody Tentacle Man worked but if he didn't strike her as and Unnatural whenever they passed each other in the halls, then he was at least careful in his action. "What about you, Dirk?" she turned to the boy who was leaning against the wall a few feet away from her.
 
GM Post.

Julius - Tunnels

After a while, the point at which Julius felt like he was beginning to get comfortable, he grudgingly forced himself to stand up. Having dusted himself off he looked for Nilin and approached her.

"Best we be off or else they'll get too comfy here." He said, turning to the others and raising his voice. "Come, let's move on. There'll be better and safer places to sleep a little further ahead." With an overly dramatic gesture to Nilin he spoke again. "Lead on, milady." He smiled with a trace of his normal humour but there was still an iciness to his eyes, the blood in him still elated from Faust's murder. Julius hated himself for feeling the gratification, nay the satisfaction, of killing the mercenary and refused to allow himself to negotiate with his conscience; he had murdered a man in cold blood. It had been the right decision and he did not regret it but it still haunted him. What would haunt him for longer was the enjoyment he got from such a life-death situation from which he survived and his opponent did not.

It was some time, and a few breaks, later that they finally arrived at their destination. Julius' first instinct was that they had been betrayed but logic immediately won over as he stepped into one of the facilities they had fought so hard to close down. The place had been renovated to function as living quarters rather than the testing facility it had formerly been. What had been cells were simply furnished but accommodating rooms, of a better quality than the previous safe house, with a well furnished common area.

"I didn't want to be stepping into one of these places again." He looked around, remembering how he, Maribeth, Allister and Diego had escaped from such an institution on their second attempt; they had all lost something after their first failed one. What had been so cruel was that the building had not been a hard place to live: they had had well furnished, individual rooms, a reasonably varied nutritional table albeit with drugged food and leisure facilities than would make most youth centres jealous. Despite being a prison with unsolicited experimentation and harsh punishments for anyone refusing to cooperate many of the scientists and guards in such places had genuinely believed they were doing the right thing for those Empowered test subjects. Now the four of them were the only ones still alive from their facility with worse casualty rates at identical institutions.

He doubted anyone made it out of this one without being in a body bag.

"Okay guys, find a room and make yourselves familiar with the place. This is a safer location than before but there's no point in being careless. Mira, a word? There are things I need to go over with you." He instructed before hefting his laptop.

It was time to start trusting their guide or else she would never trust him fully. That meant releasing his monopoly on information massed over the last six months, including about how the Empowered came to be.
 
Dirk - The Tunnels

He stirred lazily from his inner thoughts, barely registering that someone had spoken to him. He looked toward Akiko, his mouth agape slightly. He shut it quickly enough, trying not to look so surprised he'd been acknowledged. They had spent some time together, hadn't they? Not much talking had gone on-- Dirk was still no good at such a feat-- but it had been nice to be around others, at least. He rolled her question over in his head, managing to recall what she had just spoken to Sean about.

"Well, I uh--" He crossed his arms, receding in toward himself slightly. "I don't know. I... I know I didn't do anything to set them off. I'm pretty unassuming..." He trailed off, looking down at himself. Yes, well, best to remind everyone and himself he didn't quite fit in, right? He didn't want to admit just yet his power was still rather unknown to him-- everyone else seemed to at least have some grasp on what they could do. Perhaps he'd ask one of the veterans at some point, if he could manage to work up the courage.

Soon after, they were being led around once again. Deeper into the facility they went, eventually reaching an odd sort of living quarters. Dirk felt like a spy of some sort down here. Find a room, Julius said, but Dirk had no idea where to start. "Uh, hmm..."
 
Nikolai was tired, his body wasnt but his mind was. He still felt a bit off in his head, like he had a warped brain. He kind of just followed the group of them, mainly Julius. When they arrived at some kind of residential area, Nikolai vaguely snapped to. He looked around a bit then decided to just sit in the common room. Nikolai was peeved that Mari was taken, it kept nagging at his mind that she could be dead or being tortured right now. That there was no immediate plan in action to find and rescue her. He grew out his claws and started scratching away at the arm chair he was in, the leather tearing.
 
Atticus - Second Safehouse

Atticus stiffened slightly as he entered the new area, immediately discerning the previous purpose of the cold facility. It smelled the same; that stale, bitter stench though now mixed with a fair amount of dust; and the lights were just as sterile white so that they cast everything in a lifeless glow. His breath came through his teeth and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end but he did not panic as there had been some time since his escape from that horrid place and he no longer awoke every night drenched in sweat. "I was under the impression they kept careful track of these facilities..." The young man growled, giving Julius a rather cold sidelong glance. "Are we to assume this place is 'safe' as well? That those bastards don't still have functioning sensors in the walls and won't drop by for a check-in?" Though the facility was clearly decomissioned, it was not outrageous to assume that the Bureau had left behind more than a few active detectors or cameras just in case they ever had reason to reopen the gates of hell and start their experiments once again.

He once again contemplated simply leaving right then and there before remembering that he truly had no where else to go. The place was far from ideal but it was possible that it was as good as it was going to get, at least until he could discern a more nondescript place to take up hiding again. Atticus knew he couldn't leave the city, not while that man still had breath in his lungs and blood in his veins, and the areas of Bureau influence were clearly growing at a rapid rate.

Soon, there would be no where left for any of them to go without running into a scanner or mandatory police checkpoint.
 
Nilin - Facility

Once everyone had reached the abandoned facility, the relief was palpable despite a few grumblings. It wasn't unwarranted since the facility's original purpose hadn't been exactly .. unnatural friendly, to say the least. Though they had all been closed down, there wasn't an unnatural in the world who hadn't heard of its horrors. This was the sort of place that served to unnerve even the strongest of them.

As the group slowly wandered off at Julius' suggestion to settle into a room, Nilin glanced at one of them who had stayed behind. She hadn't gotten his name during all that had happened, but recognized him as one of the unnaturals who'd arrived only the night before. Though his concerns about their current location were entirely valid, she didn't appreciate his tone. It made her want to pry into his brain and make him forget how to speak.

The young woman was tired and had a lingering headache, not to mention that she still hadn't had a bite to eat. There were also bigger concerns plaguing her thoughts - ones she needed to be by herself to sort out.

"They did, yes." Nilin replied though he'd asked Julius.

This was the Syndicate's - no, hers. She had been the one to lead the project of tracking down and completely refurbishing the facilities in their area. It was highly unlikely that the government had even a shred of control left over it. Their technology didn't have even a prayer of beating a technopath's skills - not yet at least.

"You aren't required to assume anything. We need to recover and this is our best option for now. If you have knowledge of any safehouses better than this, then by all means, let me know. I'd be more than willing to relocate."

Nilin sighed mentally as Julius asked for a private word. "Of course." She conceded with small nod. Despite wanting to go over what she knew had been the cause of it and figure out how to deal with it, she couldn't very well bow out just then. That, and she refused to show even the slightest sign of weakness. Even after all that had happened, she hadn't forgotten why she was assigned as their liaison.
 
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